Taming the airport’s summer crowds

With summer upon us, business is picking up at San Antonio International Airport, and airport officials are offering travellers tips on ways to keep their cool as temperatures and crowds grow.

For the packed flights before 7:30 a.m., travellers should get to the airport at least two hours before departure to have enough time to park, get through the airline’s check-in and through security, officials said. For later flights, a 90-minute check-in window should be adequate.

The Transportation Security Administration has made changes to speed up security lines. Families travelling together can use the security lanes previously reserved for priority passengers, including the aircraft’s crew, and children under 12 don’t have to remove their shoes as part of the check in. The same goes for adults 75 and older.

Still, officials urge travelers to use online check-in services on their airlines’ websites, to check Twitter and Facebook for the space available in airport parking lots, to take advantage of the airport’s 30-minute free parking policy rather than getting tied up in congestion on the airport’s upper-tier roadway and to check on the status of flights before leaving for the airport by going online to www.sanantonio-airport.com. A free, Wi-Fi equipped cell phone lot at Loop 410 and Airport Boulevard also is available to help visitors schedule passenger pick ups.

“With summer travel here, it means more seasonal flights are added, which means more travelers and more families travel during the summer months,” said Rich Johnson, a spokesman for the San Antonio Airport System.